Today's book of poetry: milk tooth bane bone. Daniela Elza. Leaf Press. Lantzville, British Columbia. 2013.
Daniela Elza's second book of poetry milk tooth bane bone is populated with poems that are so sparse that on first glance you might think there is nothing really there. On a closer inspection, say a quick running read over, it reads like clever haiku.
When you finally give this work the time and energy it deserves you discover that these carefully crafted minimalist poems have everything you might need, including an element of surprise.
:preface
"The World is a semantic sign
that cannot be pronounced."
-Lyubomir Levchev
today a crow flies up
a mussel in its beak.
drops it.
repeats.
I pick up a word.
drop it.
and again
to see it
crack.
we look at each other
sideways crow & I
for an instant agree-- this kind of
sustenance is miserable.
yet with unexpected
concentration
we resume our efforts.
...
These poems ruminate about family and the natural world using a crow as a symbol, a key to Elza's own mythology.
spring.
words
everywhere--
in the pines
on lampposts
strung
on wires.
cawing me
out of my skin.
so close
I look them
in the eye
down by the grates the garbage.
on the edge of the water
they shine
(mussels)--
a whole murder of them.
so blue-black you would think
they are standing in rain.
picking thoughts clean.
...
This crow is a catch-all figure, a utilitarian tool that Daniela Elza wields like a Maestro with a baton, perfect pitch, and always on time.
Elza's milk tooth bane bone is almost elemental in its' purity. You hardly notice, at first, that these apparently fragmentary passages read with a clear narrative, insight and enlightening conclusions.
By the time I neared the last passages I was utterly hooked.
there are no recipes for getting to
know you.
fascination aside:
today every sound
that comes out of you
grates on my ear.
I try to ignore you better.
unwilling to listen
I do.
I want to be
composed
as you
in the rain.
comfortable
as you
in the city.
inscribed
as you
in the landscape.
the light in your eyes
has taken years
to reach me
...
Ted Hughes had Crow, I've often had to eat crow, Daniela Elza has widened the canon with her own mythical beast. A more human crow would be awfully hard to find. Elza's milk tooth bane bone is a very good read for your head and your heart.
www.leafpress.ca
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